Environmental Education Meets Art at CHESPAX

Posted by Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center
Community Builder

Annmarie Garden’s partnership with CHESPAX, an environmental education program for the Calvert County Public School System, is in full swing for the second year in a row.

Approximately 40 second grade classes (over 1,200 students) will visit Annmarie Garden each weekday, 11:30 a.m – 1:30 p.m, through March 6 to explore various alternatives of waste disposal, primarily focusing on composting and creative reuse as alternative ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

The Annmarie Garden Superheroes, including Commander Green, Zero Waster, Lady Rotsalot, Joan of Art, Daughter Nature, Wizard of Waste, Princess Poptop, re-USE-It-Tron, and Wonder Worman, will teach students practical ways to go green and encourage students to implement specific ‘green’ practices, like composting, into their daily lives. Students will explore the outdoors through a compost relay at Annmarie Garden to learn how to create their own compost pile. Annmarie Garden has a large family of worms this year, who are busy decomposing student’s (left over) organic lunch products, a favored feature of the program.

CHESPAX will also enable each second grader from Calvert County to experience the artLAB, Annmarie Garden’s newest addition, a creative reuse center. At the artLAB, students will use their imagination to find ways to resourcefully reuse their own lunch to create a unique or functional artwork, marrying their trash to other recycled items from the artLAB.

CHESPAX is now in its second week and the slogan, “We’re the pollution solution, reusing and reducing; it takes you and me to make the Earth healthy!” is already embedded in the minds of all who have visited. Annmarie Garden is the perfect venue for CHESPAX, as the location, mission, and natural setting serve as a living laboratory for students to use their science content and process skills to learn to make responsible decisions regarding the natural environment.

For more information about this wonderful educational program, please contact Curator of Programs, Jaimie Jeffrey, at [email protected].